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STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA SINCE 1912 | WWW.DAILYTROJAN.COM | VOL. 168, NO. 64 | TUESDAY NOVEMBER 24, 2009
INDEX
2 · News Digest
4 · Opinion
5 · Sports
12 · Classifieds
14 · Crossword
16 · Lifestyle
Why-luv: The USC student
band reaches new heights.
PAGE 16
By SABENA SURI
Daily Trojan
A new resolution from the
Undergraduate Student Government
aims to increase the size of USC’s
Sustainability Office and allocate
more resources to sustainable efforts
on campus.
The resolution, up for a vote at
USG’s Senate today, seeks to expand
the scope of environmentally friend-ly
efforts at USC, according to John
Baldo, USG’s director of university af-fairs.
“The resolution expresses the stu-dent
body’s support for expanding
USC’s Sustainability Program and
asks the university to allocate more
resources,” Baldo said.
According to USG President
Holden Slusher, who presented the
details of the resolution to the Board
of Trustees earlier this month, the
resolution arose from a need to make
sustainability a more prominent and
pressing issue on campus.
“We feel that it’s time that we had
a visible office and made [sustainabil-ity]
part of campus culture,” Slusher
said.
USC is already imple-menting
a number of
environment-friendly measures, in-cluding
holding the Sustainability
Steering Committee, a forum for stu-dents
and administrators to discuss
sustainability efforts.
But, the resolution claims, atten-dance
at the committee has been
lacking, and it also adds that on-cam-pus
environmentally friendly organi-zations
do not have sufficient meeting
space and that USC’s sustainability
grade report has remain unchanged
for the past three years.
“While the creation of the Steering
Committee and establishing our [sus-tainability]
program was a huge first
step ... it’s important that USC expand
on that progress and continue to de-velop
its program,” Baldo said.
He added that the resolution also
attempts to address the lack of staff-ing
at the Sustainability Office, which
currently has just one full-time em-ployee.
“The office is being flooded with
ideas for projects and requests to be
involved,” Baldo said. “The program
does not have the capacity to coordi-nate
all of these projects and capital-ize
on all the opportunities.”
As a result, the resolution recom-mends
the inclusion of more full-time
USG hopes to boost
sustainability efforts
A resolution calling for the
expansion of the Sustainability
Office will be voted on today.
| see USG, page 3 |
Members of USC CalPIRG hosted Say No! to Plastic Day on Monday in front of Tommy Trojan. Students and faculty
were given free, reusable canvas bags in exchange for water bottles and plastic bags. The event aimed to educate
students about the problems of plastic. According to CalPIRG, USC students buy 100 million water bottles each year.
Mike Lee | Daily Trojan Bagging rights
By GRACE WONG
Daily Trojan
For as long as Vice Provost for Undergraduate
Programs Gene Bickers can remember, USC has held
classes on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving — often
causing headaches for students and professors alike.
Many professors cancel classes that Wednesday,
while others hold class only to see a sorely lacking stu-dent
attendance as students often must decide between
going to class and traveling home for the holiday. Still,
the university continues to hold classes the day before
Thanksgiving, though it has begun to consider making
a change.
“The question has certainly been raised,” Bickers said.
“But we’re still trying to figure out if it is to the university’s
advantage if we have a short week before Thanksgiving.”
Hung Wong, a professor of engineering, said he is still
holding class on Wednesday, but he has told his students
the class will not affect their grade in any way.
“I’m paid to teach,” Wong said. “I don’t want to be lazy
and not hold class ... But attendance will not be required
— it won’t be on any quizzes or homework assignments,
so if they don’t show up, it’s as if it never happened.”
Based on past years, Hung estimated that, at most, half
his students will be in class.
Students question
necessity of classes
before Thanksgiving
Students argue that USC should accommodate
for Wednesday travel before Thanksgiving.
| see WEDNESDAY, page 3 |
By JESSICA YOUSEFFI
Daily Trojan
On Thursday, after campus has cleared
out, the handful of students left on campus
will find they have more options than usual
for Thanksgiving dinner.
USC Hospitality, University Residential
Student Community, the Office of
International Services and the Trojan
Knights have all arranged events for students
who find themselves stuck on campus for the
holiday.
“Lots of students go away with friends
who live locally,” said Lynette Merriman, se-nior
associate dean for USC Student Affairs.
“But for those who choose to stay behind, we
do have opportunities for Thanksgiving din-ner.”
Though students in previous years have
complained about the lack of dining options
on Thanksgiving week, Merriman said there
will be plenty of opportunities for students to
get a good meal this year.
The school-sponsored options in-clude
dinners at Parkside Dining Hall and
Everybody’s Kitchen, and a match-up pro-gram
for international students to eat din-ner
with American families, Merriman said.
Many residential faculty will also host full
Thanksgiving dinners Tuesday night.
Mercedes Antonich, an EVK
employee who has worked at the
Thanksgiving dinner, said the dining hall
tries to create a welcoming experience for
students. She said creating that family expe-rience
is worth the extra time spent at EVK.
“It’s so nice, I never minded it because we
close at 7:30 p.m. and then go home and eat
with our own family,” she said.
EVK is expecting about 70 students to
attend its Thanksgiving dinner.
International students will also have the
chance to have a more intimate experience
for Thanksgiving dinner.
The Office of International Services
offers an annual Thanksgiving match-up
program, which pairs students with lo-cal
host families to create a cross-cultural
Break brings new options for on-campus dining
Students can be matched up with a
family or eat dinner with the Trojan
Knights, among other options.
| see BREAK, page 3 |
Ian Elston | Daily Trojan
Trojan nights · The Trojan Knights will hold a Thanksgiving dinner in front of
Tommy Trojan on Thursday as they guard the statue as part of Save Tommy Week.
Happy Thanksgiving!
The Daily Trojan will resume
publication Dec. 1.
Sports Extra Page 5

STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA SINCE 1912 | WWW.DAILYTROJAN.COM | VOL. 168, NO. 64 | TUESDAY NOVEMBER 24, 2009
INDEX
2 · News Digest
4 · Opinion
5 · Sports
12 · Classifieds
14 · Crossword
16 · Lifestyle
Why-luv: The USC student
band reaches new heights.
PAGE 16
By SABENA SURI
Daily Trojan
A new resolution from the
Undergraduate Student Government
aims to increase the size of USC’s
Sustainability Office and allocate
more resources to sustainable efforts
on campus.
The resolution, up for a vote at
USG’s Senate today, seeks to expand
the scope of environmentally friend-ly
efforts at USC, according to John
Baldo, USG’s director of university af-fairs.
“The resolution expresses the stu-dent
body’s support for expanding
USC’s Sustainability Program and
asks the university to allocate more
resources,” Baldo said.
According to USG President
Holden Slusher, who presented the
details of the resolution to the Board
of Trustees earlier this month, the
resolution arose from a need to make
sustainability a more prominent and
pressing issue on campus.
“We feel that it’s time that we had
a visible office and made [sustainabil-ity]
part of campus culture,” Slusher
said.
USC is already imple-menting
a number of
environment-friendly measures, in-cluding
holding the Sustainability
Steering Committee, a forum for stu-dents
and administrators to discuss
sustainability efforts.
But, the resolution claims, atten-dance
at the committee has been
lacking, and it also adds that on-cam-pus
environmentally friendly organi-zations
do not have sufficient meeting
space and that USC’s sustainability
grade report has remain unchanged
for the past three years.
“While the creation of the Steering
Committee and establishing our [sus-tainability]
program was a huge first
step ... it’s important that USC expand
on that progress and continue to de-velop
its program,” Baldo said.
He added that the resolution also
attempts to address the lack of staff-ing
at the Sustainability Office, which
currently has just one full-time em-ployee.
“The office is being flooded with
ideas for projects and requests to be
involved,” Baldo said. “The program
does not have the capacity to coordi-nate
all of these projects and capital-ize
on all the opportunities.”
As a result, the resolution recom-mends
the inclusion of more full-time
USG hopes to boost
sustainability efforts
A resolution calling for the
expansion of the Sustainability
Office will be voted on today.
| see USG, page 3 |
Members of USC CalPIRG hosted Say No! to Plastic Day on Monday in front of Tommy Trojan. Students and faculty
were given free, reusable canvas bags in exchange for water bottles and plastic bags. The event aimed to educate
students about the problems of plastic. According to CalPIRG, USC students buy 100 million water bottles each year.
Mike Lee | Daily Trojan Bagging rights
By GRACE WONG
Daily Trojan
For as long as Vice Provost for Undergraduate
Programs Gene Bickers can remember, USC has held
classes on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving — often
causing headaches for students and professors alike.
Many professors cancel classes that Wednesday,
while others hold class only to see a sorely lacking stu-dent
attendance as students often must decide between
going to class and traveling home for the holiday. Still,
the university continues to hold classes the day before
Thanksgiving, though it has begun to consider making
a change.
“The question has certainly been raised,” Bickers said.
“But we’re still trying to figure out if it is to the university’s
advantage if we have a short week before Thanksgiving.”
Hung Wong, a professor of engineering, said he is still
holding class on Wednesday, but he has told his students
the class will not affect their grade in any way.
“I’m paid to teach,” Wong said. “I don’t want to be lazy
and not hold class ... But attendance will not be required
— it won’t be on any quizzes or homework assignments,
so if they don’t show up, it’s as if it never happened.”
Based on past years, Hung estimated that, at most, half
his students will be in class.
Students question
necessity of classes
before Thanksgiving
Students argue that USC should accommodate
for Wednesday travel before Thanksgiving.
| see WEDNESDAY, page 3 |
By JESSICA YOUSEFFI
Daily Trojan
On Thursday, after campus has cleared
out, the handful of students left on campus
will find they have more options than usual
for Thanksgiving dinner.
USC Hospitality, University Residential
Student Community, the Office of
International Services and the Trojan
Knights have all arranged events for students
who find themselves stuck on campus for the
holiday.
“Lots of students go away with friends
who live locally,” said Lynette Merriman, se-nior
associate dean for USC Student Affairs.
“But for those who choose to stay behind, we
do have opportunities for Thanksgiving din-ner.”
Though students in previous years have
complained about the lack of dining options
on Thanksgiving week, Merriman said there
will be plenty of opportunities for students to
get a good meal this year.
The school-sponsored options in-clude
dinners at Parkside Dining Hall and
Everybody’s Kitchen, and a match-up pro-gram
for international students to eat din-ner
with American families, Merriman said.
Many residential faculty will also host full
Thanksgiving dinners Tuesday night.
Mercedes Antonich, an EVK
employee who has worked at the
Thanksgiving dinner, said the dining hall
tries to create a welcoming experience for
students. She said creating that family expe-rience
is worth the extra time spent at EVK.
“It’s so nice, I never minded it because we
close at 7:30 p.m. and then go home and eat
with our own family,” she said.
EVK is expecting about 70 students to
attend its Thanksgiving dinner.
International students will also have the
chance to have a more intimate experience
for Thanksgiving dinner.
The Office of International Services
offers an annual Thanksgiving match-up
program, which pairs students with lo-cal
host families to create a cross-cultural
Break brings new options for on-campus dining
Students can be matched up with a
family or eat dinner with the Trojan
Knights, among other options.
| see BREAK, page 3 |
Ian Elston | Daily Trojan
Trojan nights · The Trojan Knights will hold a Thanksgiving dinner in front of
Tommy Trojan on Thursday as they guard the statue as part of Save Tommy Week.
Happy Thanksgiving!
The Daily Trojan will resume
publication Dec. 1.
Sports Extra Page 5